Put Through the Paces
by Ceasefire
Summary: Ficlets written for the 50ficlets challenge on LJ, focusing on the relationship between the Cavallone Boss and the Vongola Cloud. Starts out as gen, may evolve into romance. Fourth prompt: flip side. TYL!Dino waits for Hibari to arrive for Choice.
1. The Feeling's Mutual

I decided to separate all my 50ficlets drabbles into separate fics, because they focus on different characters, pairings, situations etc. and it's easier to separate them by subject. Especially with the thirty ficlets I'll be writing about specific dynamics or relationships, because otherwise it will feel quite disjointed.

Anyway, these are the Dino and Hibari drabbles. I'm not sure whether they'll end up romantic or not, so feel free to voice your opinion on the matter.

Amano Akira owns Reborn. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

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><p><strong>Theme Twenty-One - Wind<strong>

The roof of Namimori Middle School is bathed in pale autumn sunlight. The air is fresh, crisp, and cool against Dino's skin, and he pulls his coat around his shoulders a little tighter. His new student, the head prefect if what Dino has heard from Reborn is true, tosses his school blazer over his shoulders thoughtlessly and goes to lock the door that leads to the roof to ensure they are not disturbed.

For a second, Dino wants to think that Reborn was wrong about this kid. He's quiet, not entirely impolite, and he certainly didn't protest against the idea of training, even going so far as to suggesting the roof as the perfect place to spar. But a second later, he realises that he's wrong and Reborn's right; Reborn's _always_ right. Hibari Kyouya is as untameable as he is reputed to be, and he's not at all afraid to prove it. Once the door clicks shut and Hibari pockets the key, he hits Dino before he can defend himself - before he's even ready to spar - and the bruise on Dino's cheek smarts for days on end, a constant reminder of the brat's existence, even when he's not being graced by his presence.

At midday, Hibari tells Dino that he's bored with him and walks off without saying goodbye. Dino spends the next ninety minutes trying to convince Hibari that what he's doing is not a waste of his time while fighting against clumsiness and a pronounced limp, and then he finally realises that it's a hopeless endeavour. He gives up for the day and returns to his hotel, the feeling of failure weighing down on his shoulders. By the time that Dino retires to bed, Hibari's attitude is still annoying him. He goes over the day's events in his head, and wonders whether asking Reborn for advice on controlling teenagers is a wise idea. Hibari's current attitude is so painful that he's willing to risk the potential ridicule and scolding.

The next day, Dino doesn't hold back. He hits Hibari first, figuring that no hostile mafioso would give the kid the honor of landing the first strike anyway.

Dino watches Hibari fall as if the whole scene was in slow motion, and for a fleeting second Dino wonders if he'll actually let himself hit the ground. Hibari puts his arm out to stop his descent at just the right time, but his blazer gets knocked from his shoulders and blown to the corner of the roof, where it catches on the protective chain link fence. When their eyes meet, the prefect's expression is positively malicious. Dino laughs and offers a hand to help him up, which is promptly ignored. Hibari sits up, spits a mouthful of blood over his left shoulder and grips his tonfas so hard the skin on his knuckles and fingers turns a sickly white.

_"I'll bite you to death."_

Dino smiles and unfurls his whip.

They fight until sunset, and Dino's amused when he's the one who has to put a stop to their training, considering how their meeting ended the day before. Hibari leaves without saying goodbye for the second day in a row. Dino comes to the conclusion that asking _anyone_ for advice is probably out of the question, because Hibari Kyouya is hardly normal. There's probably not a single person out there who's figured out how to make him listen to good advice and take it on board.

Dino decides on that day, on the roof of Hibari's beloved Namimori Middle School with his clothes stained with both his blood and Hibari's, that he will be the first.

**end.**


	2. WarmUp

Here is drabble two (of ten) of the Dino and Hibari drabbles for my 50ficlets challenge. I hope you like it!

Amano Akira owns Reborn. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

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><p><strong>Theme Twenty-Two - Water<strong>

It takes Dino a large amount of time - time they couldn't afford to waste in the first place - to convince Hibari that leaving Namimori to train in different environments was a good idea. They leave Namimori early the next morning; it's only been a few days, but Dino notices Hibari's obsession with the school, and figures that the less time Hibari has to ponder the situation, the less chance there is that he will disagree to leaving it. It's barely light out, but Hibari is waiting at the gates of Namimori Middle as he said he would be. He's still wearing his school uniform and is carrying a small black bag that Dino hopes is full of supplies for the next few days. He can see the handles of Hibari's tonfas poking out of the side of the bag, so at least he's prepared to spar.

Hibari still looks displeased about his decision to join Dino; his bad mood continues throughout the entire car trip, and Dino knows from his expression and body language that Romario is torn between being amused by the level of Kyouya's petulant behaviour or feeling annoyed on his behalf. Dino decides that the former reaction is the better one, because it's preferable to being driven to frustration by Kyouya's attitude.

The hotel that Romario had booked them into was less like the lavish hotels that Dino was used to staying in while out of Italy on business; it was closer to a traditional Japanese inn with a few modern comforts and touches, such as the heating beneath the tatami floors. Dino isn't sure what to make of it until he glances at Hibari and sees the hint of a smile on his lips, and decides it was worth it to see Hibari actually look _pleased_ about something other than spilling his blood all over the roof of the school.

When they reach their room, Dino finds three futons folded up against the wall for their use, and a tea set sitting on the low table in the corner of the room. Hibari immediately seats himself at the table, and begins to prepare himself a cup of tea. Dino looks at Romario, who shrugs offhandedly and suggests that they take a few moments to recover from the lengthy car trip before starting their training. Those moments equate to Dino and Romario sitting on the opposite side of the room to Hibari, listening to the sound of running water coming from the river near the hotel. Hibari drinks the last mouthful of his tea and glares at Dino over the rim of his teacup.

"I'm bored."

Dino manages a smile, and grabs his whip from its place atop his pile of luggage.

"I'll be happy to spar once you're ready."

Hibari's smirk borders on feral as he reaches for his tonfas.

They fight on the banks of the river they heard from their room at the inn. The water laps at Dino's ankles when he dodges a little too far to the left to avoid one of Hibari's attacks, and he grits his teeth as water seeps through his socks and shoes. The river is freezing cold, and when he loses his footing on a particularly slippery part of the riverbed and topples back into the water, Dino's surprised to find Hibari coming in after him. Romario calls out a warning, a reflexive reaction, and Dino grins. He regains his footing and trips Hibari with the end of his whip as he nears the edge of the river, and soon enough they're both fighting waist-deep in the freezing water. After a while, Dino barely notices the cold; his blood's running too hot, his heart's beating too fast, his wounds are numbed by the cold and adrenaline is rushing through his body. Hibari submits to the exhaustion and the cold first; his legs give way and he falls to his knees, his chin barely above the water and his expression still full of venom. Dino tries to reach him before his head goes below the surface of the water, but he slips and finds himself face-down in the river instead. The next thing he remembers is Romario dragging him out of the water and laying him down next to Hibari on the bank of the river.

Once they're back at the inn and in dry clothes, Dino endures Romario's stern looks and Hibari's frosty indifference with what he considers a dignified silence, and helps himself to the leftover tea. About a half-minute after Dino swallows the last mouthful of tea in his cup, Hibari leaves their room and without a word. Dino wonders whether he should have said something to him, but Romario doesn't seem bothered by Hibari's sudden disappearance, so Dino tries not to concern himself either. It's long past sunset by the time Hibari returns, and Dino and Romario are in the middle of dinner. Hibari's hair is damp, and his face is flushed a violent shade of pink. Dino isn't sure, but he suspects that his student may have been making use of the inn's onsen.

"You're back. Are you hungry?"

Hibari doesn't reply, but he crosses the room and seats himself on the opposite side of the table to Dino. Dino takes that as a 'yes', and pushes the plate of raw wagyu beef around the hot pot in the middle of the table and towards his student.

"Here you go, Kyouya."

Hibari's eyes narrow at the use of his given name, but he eventually relaxes. Tension leaves his body smoothly and naturally. He reaches over to grab the elongated chopsticks next to the hot pot and begins to cook his food.

And despite his exhaustion and injuries, despite Kyouya's previous attitude and Romario's irritation, Dino finds himself smiling at this simple show of trust and respect from his student. It's progress, no matter how small. Perhaps training won't be as painful as he'd thought.

**end.**


	3. Alternate Methods

The third of my Dino and Hibari drabbles for the 50ficlets challenge. I hope you enjoy it.

Amano Akira owns Reborn. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

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><p><strong>Theme Twenty-Three - Fingers<strong>

Hibari puts the Vongola Ring on the middle finger of his left hand. His movements are slow and deliberate, as if he is expecting Dino to be playing some elaborate prank designed to grate on his nerves. The ring sits on his finger, shining brightly in the midday sunlight, but does nothing particularly remarkable. Hibari's gaze shifts from the ring to Dino, and Dino can tell that he's annoyed. He gives his student a lopsided grin and leans back against the fence surrounding the edges of the roof.

"I thought so."

Hibari looks even more irritable at the thought of Dino predicting his failure. Dino's eyes flicker away from his student's face and to the ring on his hand. There is a tiny shimmer of purple flame flaring across Hibari's knuckle. If his skin hadn't been so pale, the flame would have been invisible in the brightness of the sun. His eyes move back to Hibari's face, and his student's expression gives Dino the distinct impression that he's displeased with the situation.

"Keep trying, Kyouya."

The Flame coming from the Vongola Ring flickers briefly, and then dies as Hibari's focus shifts from irritation to concentration. Dino frowns, folds his arms across his chest and considers the situation. The power of Flames wasn't a new thing in the Mafia, but it was only recently that people had been discovering ways to use them practically. Powerful Flame users were rare, especially since the current technology didn't really do anything to amplify their power. But the Vongola Rings were ancient, venerable, unique, and it was the first time Dino had been given the chance to experiment with them with both halves united. With the level of power the Rings were rumored to hold, they could easily be the catalyst that would drive the research into Rings and Flames out of obscurity.

One thing Dino did know for sure was that the tried and true method of amplifying Flames through Rings seems to be the power of resolve. Hibari is proving to be an exception to this rule; his Flames seemed to weaken with concentration. Now that his school is no longer threatened, Hibari had no real reason to build his resolve. Except, perhaps, to spite him, Dino thinks with a weak laugh.

Hibari turns to look at Dino, his concentration broken by Dino's laugh. If looks could kill then Dino thinks Hibari's expression probably would have been something akin to assurance that he was as good as dead and buried. The purple Flame of the Cloud Ring flares back to life, and it's at that moment that Dino realises he's been trying to train his student in a way that almost contradicted his personality and fighting style.

"Hey, Kyouya."

"What do you want, Bucking Horse?" Hibari asks, obviously annoyed. The flame coming from his ring grows a little larger.

Dino points triumphantly at the ring. "I've got it. To maximise the power of the Flames, you don't need resolve."

"Then why waste my time by insisting that resolve was the only way?" Hibari responds. "Herbivore." The flame grows.

"Because I only just figured it out," Dino replies with a grin, taking a step closer to his student. "To increase the size of your flames... you need irritation."

He ruffles Hibari's hair, and watches with delight as Cloud Flames immediately engulfs the Vongola Ring on his student's finger as his temper flares. He dodges the kick Hibari aims at his head, and runs to retrieve his whip. Perhaps he would find time to be proud of his student and, to a lesser extent, his own deductive skills when Hibari stopped trying to bite him to death.

**end. **


	4. Borderline

The fourth of my Dino and Hibari drabbles for the 50ficlets challenge. I hope you enjoy it.

Amano Akira owns Reborn. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

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><p><strong>Theme Twenty-Four - Flip Side<strong>

Dino isn't sure what had made him come here in the first place. Perhaps it was concern for the young Vongola Family. Perhaps it was the overwhelming feeling of dread one felt before the possibility of something bad happening, a morbid curiosity that he couldn't shake. Or perhaps it was the fact that somewhere in the back of his mind, a distant voice that he could barely hear but still heeded told him that he was worried that Hibari wouldn't show at all.

He'd parted ways with the younger Hibari some time ago, after his decision to cut their last training session short to save his student's strength for the upcoming battle had been poorly received by said student. He hadn't seen him since then, and it was making him slightly nervous. He trusted the Hibari from his own time, of course; Kyouya had grown into a powerful mafioso and a respected member of the Vongola Family, even if it still irritated him to be so closely associated with them in that respect. They had been through several wars and battles as allies, and had saved each other's necks enough to develop as much of a mutual trust as Kyouya ever allowed himself to indulge in. The thing that was worrying Dino was that the younger Hibari was yet to experience these events with him, or Tsuna, or any of his other allies. And really, it would have been ridiculous to say that Hibari hadn't been difficult to deal with when he was younger. To say he'd been tolerable the first time they'd met probably would have been sugar-coating it.

He can tell the young Vongola are worried, too. Yamamoto is missing too, but Dino knew Yamamoto well enough to believe that he would show for Tsuna's sake, come hell or high water. Tsuna looked nervous, of course, but there was also a fleeting streak of determination and trust that made Dino sure that the boy in front of him would grow into the man he knew. And Dino could sympathise with that emotion, with the nervousness and impatience you felt when your friends were unaccounted for. It was even worse when they were also two of your most powerful allies.

He watches and waits as the minutes tick by. Tsuna may have refused the apparition of Byakuran in the sky for the moment, but he looks a little more stricken with every second that passes. Gokudera smokes endlessly, stubbing out old cigarettes at the same time as he lights new ones. Lambo is running between everyone around him asking questions, and is eventually picked up by Haru and calmed down. Ryohei looks as intense and focused as ever, but is uncharacteristically quiet. Chrome is as silent as usual, and would appear frightened were it not for the steady grip with which she held her trident.

In the end, Hibari and Yamamoto arrive just in time to provide their flames for the Vongola's transportation to the battlefield. Dino feels as though he's been holding his breath since he first arrived, and quickly breathes in and out while his mind buzzes with a muted sort of relief. Hibari is a haughty about his late entrance as ever, and Dino cannot help but smile; he can remember when the Hibari of their time would have acted exactly the same way. These days he had the tact to be a little more gracious, but certainly not _too_ gracious.

And suddenly, all of the young Vongola were being moved to the location of the Choice battle, bathed in a blinding white light that seemed to give off no heat. In an instant, Dino feels himself moving forward and into that light, his eyes still fixed on the younger Hibari. He's seen Hibari fight many times over the years, and many of those times were instances when his former student's attacks were aimed directly at him. But no matter how many times he witnessed Kyouya in the midst of battle, he always enjoyed watching him fight. His power and finesse were always second-to-none, and he found himself appreciating Kyouya's skill, even when those precise, powerful blows were directed at him. And now that the younger Hibari had arrived in their time and he had taken the time to train him, he wants to see the extent of his power too, of _all_ of their powers, of the strength that the Vongola Rings could give them, a strength that the Vongola of their time could no longer wield.

He feels his feet leave the ground; he was a good distance behind the Vongola, but he still ascends at a steady pace. It's probably a good thing that he's going in unnoticed, because he's not sure how Byakuran will react to his presence. The sensation of being shifted to the Choice field is strange, as if he's tripped over his own feet and completely missed the ground when landing. But, he thinks with a smile as he's overcome by the blinding white light, there was no way he would ever miss it. It would be worth it to see his student and all of the other Vongola fight for the safety of all of their worlds.

**end.**


End file.
